Grilled to perfection

It’s summer, and most of you are taking advantage of warm weather and barbecuing outside. We hope you’ll also take advantage of our excellent recipes in "Thrilling Grilling" created by my favorite recipe developers, husband-and-wife team James Rouse, ND, and Debra Rouse, ND.

When we tested the food for this story, I made the same comment while sampling both the Blueberry-Flax Turkey Burgers and the Grilled Thai Salmon Burgers with Peanut Sauce: “I would serve this at a dinner party.” I’ve said this so often about recipes at food testings that the Delicious Living team was amazed with me—busy as I am, I seemed to have time for all this entertaining. Finally, at our "Thrilling Grilling" food test, I confessed that although I like the concept of dinner parties, I rarely manage to have them. Which brings me back to the cornerstone of summer entertaining: grilling.

I have always been interested in cooking, though I’m the type of chef who performs well when focused but is awkward at best when more than two things are going on at once in the kitchen. I’ve been known to put something on the stove or grill and completely forget it is there. Many perfectly promising dishes have been burned at my house because I’ve been distracted by my daughter, a relaxing cup of tea, or even something much less appealing, like cleaning my house.

This month's favoritesFood: Fruit crisps (such an easy way to get the antioxidant benefits of berries).Health: Probiotics. The supplement clerk recently told me, “Every mother of a toddler should be taking these daily.”Shopping moment: Coming to peace with the fact that, no matter how optimistic the outlook at first, I always seem to pick the slowest grocery checkout line.

Well, this year I decided to put an end to my culinary blunders and become a master culinary multitasker. Specifically, I resolved to become confident at the grill. My leg up toward this goal is attending a basic cooking class at a local culinary school. So far, I’ve perfected the art of sautéing, flambéing, saucing, caramelizing, reducing, tempering, roasting, and, finally, grilling. It might be working: The other night, I arrived home after work, tended to hubby and child, picked up the messes, prepped the vegetables and fish, and then—the significant moment: In my yard, I grilled with confidence. It was a beautiful thing. I hope you find yourself there this month, too.